When it comes to evaluating a firm, leadership matters.

We know that financial outcomes can predict about 50 percent of a firm's market value. Intangibles like strategy, brand, talent, R&D, innovation, risk, and so on account for the rest. But leadership underlies them all. And despite how important we know it is, we've been forced to rely on subjective and unreliable ways to measure its impact—until now.

In this landmark book, leadership scholar, author, and consultant Dave Ulrich proposes a “leadership capital index”—a Moody's or Standard and Poor's rating for leadership. Drawing on research from investors and business leaders, and synthesizing the work of dozens of consulting firms and leadership experts, Ulrich analyzes two broad domains, each comprising five factors. The individual domain includes personal qualities, strategic prowess, execution proficiency, interpersonal skills, and fit between the leader's style and the organization's market promises. The organizational domain encompasses a leader's ability to create customer-focused cultures, manage talent, demand accountability, use information to gain competitive advantage, and set up work processes to deal with change.

Ulrich details rigorous metrics and methods for evaluating leaders on each of these factors. The result is a groundbreaking book that will be of vital interest not only to equity and debt investors but also to boards of directors, executive teams, human resource and leadership development professionals, government and ratings agencies—and of course to leaders themselves.

Knowledge Caf is a process for creating, exchanging, and optimizing knowledge, whether in-person or virtual. This popular and practical knowledge management tool supports a culture where projects and innovation thrive.Knowledge Café is a process for sharing information, whether face to face or virtual. This popular and practical knowledge management tool supports a culture where projects and innovation thrive.

The Knowledge Café is a mindset and environment for engaging, discussing, and exchanging knowledge within a group either face to face or virtually. At the café, participants can discuss hard-to-solve project issues or resolve a family or community crisis. This metaphorical town square supports knowledge circulation and rejuvenation and increases its velocity—making it a breeding ground for innovation. The aha moments at one Knowledge Café can match the benefits of multiple conferences, workshops, and training put together.

When knowledge management (KM) is part of an organization's culture, performance improves, collaboration increases, and the competitive advantage accelerates. No one can force knowledge transfer. We must create the right environment where knowledge is freely shared, rewarded, and fun. This book demonstrates why the Knowledge Café is such an effective KM tool and shows how to design optimal café experiences and increase learning agility.

The premium on knowledge and agility has never been greater. This book offers a technique for managing knowledge toward the greater good. Tips; templates; practical and relatable experiences; case studies; and examples of knowledge brokers, creators, and sharers across cultures are sprinkled throughout the book to show how the café interfaces with other KM techniques and in different work and project spaces.

Written for anyone with any level of training responsibility—novice trainers, "accidental trainers," and those with years of experience—The Professional Trainer is a comprehensive, all-in-one guide that covers the entire training process and includes a wealth of practical tools, techniques, and models. Experienced trainer Robert Vaughn provides a step-by-step guide that includes both conceptual background and a host of hands-on tools and exercises. He details how to:

Identify and clarify the training needs of the employees and the organization
Plan and design training—on-the-job, off-the-job, and online
Choose the best training approach, and select media and facilities to support it
Deliver the training—and find out if it worked

If you are new to training, this book will serve as a complete overview of the process. For experienced trainers, its many practical tools make it an invaluable troubleshooting reference.

• A comprehensive guide covering the entire training process -- a wealth of tools, techniques, and models in an all-in-one guide to training

• Written for beginning trainers and the hundreds of thousands of 'accidental trainers' in the worlkplace

• The author has taught train-the-trainer programs for more than two decades

The People Equation

Every business leader knows that the key to growth is innovation—if you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always got. Deborah Perry Piscione and David Crawley argue that ultimately the key to innovation is people. After all, creativity is a uniquely human function, something that can't be automated. So how do you design an organization so that it provides the elements that will bear new thinking and bring forth bold ideas? Through The People Equation.

Based on examples from their consulting work and research into successful business practices, Perry Piscione and Crawley's The People Equation enables leaders to create a culture where psychological safety is a given, risk taking is embraced, and collaboration between highly competent people is nurtured. When experiments and new initiatives look promising, Perry Piscione and Crawley's Improvisational Innovation process provides a road map to quickly develop ideas and bring them to market. All this requires upending the usual organizational pyramid and instilling a completely new mindset throughout the organization.

Perry Piscione and Crawley show that in our rapidly changing world, the top is not where the really disruptive ideas are going to come from. And if people are afraid to take chances, even fail, you're never going to get those ideas—playing it safe means you'll be out of the game. The People Equation provides you with a formula for exponentially increasing out-of-the-box thinking in your organization and multiplying your chances for greater growth and success.

Bestselling author, psychologist, and relationship coach Melanie Joy shares the principles and tools that can make any relationship, from personal to professional, healthier and more resilient.

Relationships are complicated. Yet it's an unfortunate reality that while most of us have to learn complex geometry that we'll probably never use, we don't get a single formal lesson in how to relate to others. In this one-stop guide, psychologist Melanie Joy reveals the common psychological dynamics that underlie all kinds of relationships—with a romantic partner, friends, family members, colleagues—in short, with anyone in any situation. Understanding these dynamics will help you make all your relationships healthier and more resilient.

Relationships are like bodies: they get sick when their immune system is weaker than the germs that stress them. Drawing on the most relevant research as well as on her own extensive experience as a psychologist, Joy explains how to strengthen your relational immune system to resist not only interpersonal stressors but also largely invisible yet potentially devastating societal stressors like racism and sexism. With this understanding, you can cultivate relationships that consistently reflect core moral values and honor the dignity of everyone involved. Resilient relationships are not only a source of joy and fulfillment for those who are in them, they also support the thriving of the organizations and communities of which we all are a part.

Product: Online streamed self-assessment application (not downloaded), limited one-year subscription (5 tests or 12 months, whichever comes first), password controlled, view past results to track progress.

Duration: 18 questions covering six related topics rated 1 to 5 with 1 as 'Never' and 5 as 'Almost Always.' The self-assessment takes 5-10 minutes to answer.

Results: The bar graph and score chart shows overall results and specific results in the six related topics. The results include interpretation from author, next steps, follow-up questions to consider based on scores, author's closing statement, and print option.

BASED ON THE BOOK:

• The first book to identify six unique strengths that can make introverts powerful influencers
• Includes quizzes, exercises, and worksheets for putting quiet influencer methods into practice on a daily basis
• Features interviews with and examples of real-life quiet influencers

Introverts may feel powerless in a world where extroverts seem to rule, but there's more than one way to have some sway. As Jennifer Kahnweiler proves in this much-needed book, introverts can be highly effective influencers when, instead of trying to act like extroverts, they use their natural strengths. Kahnweiler shows how you can use those strengths to challenge the status quo, provoke new ways of thinking, effect change, and inspire others to move forward.

Kahnweiler identifies six unique strengths introverts have:

• Taking Quiet Time: The periods of solitude that introverts crave provide them with a powerful source of creativity and self-awareness.
• Preparation: Careful preparation, which makes introverts feel more comfortable, also makes them very knowledgeable and able to anticipate objections.
• Writing: Introverts' preference for writing over speaking enables them to influence others through deep, authentic, well-developed arguments.
• Engaged Listening: Introverts are great listeners-they'd rather listen than talk-which is a crucial skill for establishing rapport and mutual understanding.
• Focused Conversation: Introverts don't like small talk, but they excel at the serious, purpose-driven, one-on-one interactions vital for winning people over.
• Thoughtful Use of Social Media: Oversharing doesn't appeal to introverts online any more than it does offline, so they naturally use social media in a thoughtful, and more effective, way.

Kahnweiler includes a Quiet Influence Quotient quiz to measure how well you're using these six strengths now. Then, through questions, tools, exercises, and real-world examples, she helps you increase your mastery of these strengths. Quiet Influence is the must-have guide to deeper insight and greater impact that introverts have been waiting for and that extroverts can learn from.

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